Lady Bird Johnson was married
to Lyndon Baines Johnson, who became president after John F. Kennedy was
assassinated in 1963. The Johnson’s were from Texas.
When she was first lady, Mrs.
Johnson was known for her desire to beautify America. But her interest went
beyond this. She was a strong advocate for conservation and historic
preservation.
Lady Bird with President
Johnson.
Her father, Thomas Jefferson
Taylor and her mother, Minnie Patillo Taylor, lived in the small town of Karnack
located in east Texas. Mr. Taylor was a landowner and local merchant. He bought
a stately mansion is known as The Brick
House in 1902.
Lady Bird was Taylor’s
third child and was born in the home.
The Brick House
Milt Andrews a Confederate
Colonel, some sources state he was a Captain, had the Brick House built-in 1843. It
was constructed of bricks made by slave hands.
This mansion is a classic
example of antebellum architecture. It has impressive brick columns and three
brick fireplaces. Its balcony is 30 feet high. The estate has four sets of
double doors that lead to the home’s central hall. Access to the second story
is via an exterior staircase only.
By the time the Taylors
bought the home, it was in sad need of repair. They
undertook extensive renovations. The eccentric owner they bought the mansion from, had left one room filled with hickory nuts.
Lady Bird at age 3.
Lady Bird’s mother died when
she was four years old. Minnie tripped over the family’s collie in 1912, as she
walked down the stairs. She was pregnant at the time, and she miscarried. A few
days later she died of septicemia.
Lady Bird was christened,
Claudia Alta but her nurse, Alice Tittle, stating the little girl was “as pretty
as a ladybird,” named her Lady Bird. This nickname stuck with her the rest of
her life.
Lady Bird graduated from The University of Texas with a B.A. in Journalism. After her father died, a Taylor
relative donated 385 acres of the family estate in 1934. Today this section is a
part of the Caddo Lake State Park.
The Taylor family still owns
The Brick House and they keep it in pristine condition. Lady Bird’s former home
is not only beautiful, but it is also haunted.
A well-known legend states
that a young girl was struck by lightning in the home, and her ghost has haunted
the bedroom she stayed in ever since.
This young lady was the original owner, Milt Andrew’s daughter, Eunice. She went by the name Oonie. One
day as she was sitting in her bedroom rocking chair, during a storm, in the 1860s, a bolt of lightning rushed down the chimney and struck her—she was burned and
died.
Since her death, people say
her spirit has never left this room. When the Taylors bought The Brick House, her ghost came with it.
Lady Bird stated she never
saw or heard this ghost, but that every time she was in Oogie's former bedroom
as a little girl, she became nervous. She felt something unseen was in the room
with her.
Alice Tittle holding Lady Bird.
Lady Bird said the servants
often told her they saw Miss Oonie. They described this ghost was surrounded in
light and was slight of build. She wore a white dress, and her hair stood on
end—the result of being hit by lightning.
In August of 1966, a newspaper article mentioned Lady Bird’s brother Tony Taylor and this haunting.
He states various family members did hear a woman sobbing in the mansion at
night. They also heard creepy sounds of something moving about.
The Taylor family has taken
this haunting in stride. For several generations, they have felt this female
ghost gives the home a unique character. They refer to her as “a lady who lives in
the house that nobody sees.”
A little girl, once a sister
returns to warn a family of danger. A young boys’ apparition is seen dressed
all in white. He asks the family “Where
do all the lonely people go?” Then a violent poltergeist or demon
terrorizes this family for months. This is one of the more aggressive hauntings recorded in recent years.
This haunting occurred in New
England in the late 1970s and didn’t end until the 1980s. The family name
“Berini” is just a pseudonym in order to protect their privacy--the exact
location of their home has not been revealed for the same reason. *
Joe and his wife Rose--again
pseudonyms--moved with Rose's two children from a previous marriage into Joe’s family
ancestral home in the 1970s. Joe had not been raised in this home. At first,
all was well but then unusual things started to occur.
Rose started to hear a
disembodied voice of a child in the home. In her first encounter with this
little girl she heard the following--“Mama,
Mama, this is Serena.” Joe questioned his family as to who this could
be--he knew several people had died in the home. He was stunned to find that he
had a sister named “Serena” who had died at the age of 5.
The Berini’s reaction to this
little girl’s presence was curiosity not fear. As it turned out each time the
Berini’s heard Serena’s voice something bad happened to the family. They came to
believe her appearances foretold danger. The day after Rose heard Serena for the first time her daughter was scheduled to have her tonsils out. Her heart
stopped during the operation and she almost died.
The next time her voice was
heard was just before Joe’s grandmother suffered a stroke. Then her voice was
heard again a month later just before his grandmother died. After this Joe heard Serena’s
voice one last time. He was woken up to the sound of Serena’s voice when he
discovered Rose was choking in her sleep. She told him afterward that she had
dreamed her ex-husband was strangling her.
All was quiet in the Berini
home for several years then in early 1981 the couple started to see the
apparition of a small boy dressed all in white. Again, Joe made inquires of his
family and discovered his father’s younger brother, Giorgio had died in the
home at the age of eight. He was buried in his all-white communion suit.
Rose first saw Giorgio’s
apparition walking in the upstairs hall in the middle of the night. She was not
afraid, upon seeing him she recounts she felt a strong sense of peace. She
watched his apparition for over an hour before he disappeared. During this encounter Rose’s sense of peace was shattered when this young boy spoke to her.
He stated, “Where do all the lonely people go? Where do
I belong?”
After this, Joe watched one
evening as Giorgio’s kneeled on the hallway carpet. It appeared as if he was
intently searching for something. Joe now curious pulled up the carpet in this
area the next day. He found a religious medal on a broken chain.
Again, the Berini’s were not
afraid of this young ghost.
Giorgio’s ghost made frequent nightly appearances. He always seemed distressed about
something. He would often answer questions the Berini’s asked him. At one point
he announced that Carlos, his twin brother--who was still alive and living
nearby--had taken something from the house that belonged to him. The family
could not figure out what this item was.
On another night when he appeared
he announced to the Berinis, “My oldest
brother is the only one that can help me.” This statement made Joe wonder
if maybe Giorgio was confusing him for his father who had been Giorgio’s
older brother. After this, the couple took a friends advice and tried to just ignore this activity.
But after their last encounter with Giorgio's ghost the
activity in the home became much darker in nature. That very night the phone in
the Berini’s bedroom was flung off their bedside table by unseen hands. Over time this
phone continued to be flung violently off this table--according to the Berinis over a dozen times.
Joe now concerned, called his
parents to warn them that Giorgio might visit them. But as he discussed this
apparent poltergeist activity with them-- every time he mentioned Giorgio’s
name the phone went dead. Again, they tried to ignore the activity.
But in June of 1981 darker things
started to happen that were very disturbing. This is when the third entity
showed up.
The Berinis described this
entity as a dark male that appeared as a hunchback. He had very large feet and
a gruff voice. They bravely questioned this entity to determine who he might be
but he always gave evasive answers telling them he was a “minister of God.” But it wasn’t long before they didn’t believe
him.
The phone continued to be
flung off its hook and the poltergeist activity increased in both frequency and
intensity. Whenever Rose prayed with her rosary this entity would try to distract her with a
string of obscenities. Religious items in the home went missing or were broken.
In various rooms in the home
furniture was moved or rolled over. A daughter's desk was found
violently pushed down the stairs.
Joe, Rose and a daughter were all hit by items that were thrown. Rose was the target of most of
this abuse. A bedside lamp fell striking her on the head. Another time the
freezer door was flung open hitting her on the head. While sitting at the
kitchen table something twisted her arm behind her back and then her head was
jerked so far to the side she started to choke.
Things worsened. Joe saw Rose
pulled out of bed, she levitated above the bed and then she was dropped to the
floor. After this attack bruises where discovered on her arms and legs where
unseen hands had forcefully gripped her. Two months after the hunchback first made an
appearance he became even more violent.
One night after Joe left for
work Rose heard a series of loud bangs on her bedroom wall. The walls
literally shook. When her bed rose off the ground she tried to
leave the room but the door slammed shut in her face. When she managed to open the door--her dog was growling at something unseen.
She went to her children’s bedrooms but their doors shut violently on her, she then was knocked off her
feet by an unseen force and dragged back to her bedroom. Invisible hands
started to choke and scratch her. She managed to call Joe and he rushed home.
When he entered their bedroom
he saw the bed lurching repeatedly off the floor. He found Rose curled up in a
ball in the corner of the room clutching her crucifix.
The next morning as they entered
their kitchen they saw a carving knife embedded in their kitchen table. They
moved out of the house for a month. During this period they arranged for a
priest to do a ceremony similar to an exorcism. This worked for when the
Berinis moved back into their home they no longer saw apparitions or had poltergeist
activity.
* Joe invited the (PRA) Psychical
Research Foundation--based in North Carolina--to investigate the home. In this group's case summary they call this family Berini. This organization was able to verify many of the couple's claims. One reason being, many of the Berini’s friends, family and neighbors had seen the apparitions and witnessed the poltergeist activity.
Today
this group is based out of Florida and is known as the American Institute of Parapsychology.
